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IF the annual Asia-Pacific ICT (Information Communication & Technology) Awards
are anything to go by, our local companies are right up there with the best in
the world. Held at the Sheraton Hotel earlier this month, the awards honoured
local companies for their innovative products, services or solutions in the areas
of information communication and technology.
Pretzel Logic had seven nominations on the night, taking out the excellence
award for its redevelopment of the Airwatch website.
Originally a Western Australian initiative, the AirWatch program is now a
national initiative aimed at developing environmental awareness in students,
specifically about air pollution.
The Internet Business Corporation won the excellence award in the
tourism/transport category for the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre
(PCEC) website.
The unique challenge faced by the PCEC team was to effectively market the
centre before the completion of its construction. To meet this challenge, a
marketing strategy was employed that promoted WA first, the PCEC team second and
finally the centre itself. This strategy was further enhanced by the visually
engaging web site that won the award. Virtual tours, photos and construction
time-lapse video were all successfully integrated into the site, conveying a real
sense of the centre’s development to potential clients.
The excellence award for the category of agriculture/environment
went to The Northern Agricultural Catchments Council (NACC) Inc for
the Community Access to Local Catchment Information (CALCI) Project.
The CALCI Project was designed to assist land managers and community
groups manage their local catchment’s natural resources by providing
improved access to relevant information. This was achieved through the
development of a land management information database pertaining to
the northern agricultural region of WA.
And it was an excellent night for aussiehome.com, which won the people’s
choice award and the excellence award in the business category for its
aussiehome.com website.
Owned, developed and managed by Perth people for Perth people, aussiehome.com
has become a profitable dot.com success story in the three years since its startup.
Employing a unique map-based design, the web site showcases Perth properties
not only to a predominantly local customer base, but potentially to regional,
national and global markets as well.
The excellence award for the banking and finance category was won by
pieNetworks for its installation of BankWest Web Terminals.
Installed in BankWest branches across the State, the Internet kiosks known as
WebTerms are selfservice Internet devices bearing the bank’s colours and logo.
Providing free access to BankWest online services, the WebTerms allow the public
to interact with the BankWest website, the BankWest Internet portal and a number
of sports and news sites.
Seeking to further develop the Internet culture within the Bank-West customer base,
the project was designed to create awareness of BankWest’s online banking and
educate clients on the convenience and security it provides.
In the government category, Alphawest took out the honours for its development of a
web-based content management solution for a number of Perth’s city councils.
The solution provides the Gosnells, Bayswater and Belmont City Councils access to a
secure content repository. All the product, development and implementation costs of
the project were shared between the councils.
SigPoint Pty Ltd won the excellence award in the mining category for its SigPoint
NDT Software.
The SigPoint software allows clients to dramatically minimise expenditure and increase
profitability through intelligent monitoring of industrial plant wear and corrosion.
This leads to a reduction in risk to personnel and the environment through better
plant maintenance, thus enhancing the perception of clients as good corporate citizens.
The company’s range of software solutions feature patent-pending algorithms. This
predictive intelligence dramatically reduces the actual number of measurements required,
saving thousands of hours’ work.
In the e-commerce category, Secure Systems Ltd won the excellence award for its
Silicon Data Vault (SDV), an innovative and effective hardware solution that overcomes
computer security breaches.
The SDV is a world first as it uses intelligent, sophisticated hardware that cannot be
hacked, decrypted or circumvented.
Nor is it possible to create a ‘backdoor’ for hacker or virus accessibility. Absolute
control of the hard disk drive is asserted at the earliest stage of boot up, rendering any
computer unusable unless the user is authenticated.
WA Business News was proud to have sponsored the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards and extends its
congratulations not only to the deserving winners, but to all those nominated as well.
Courtesy of the WA Business News 24/10/02
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